Was George Mallory the First to Climb Mount Everest?

Podcast Transcript

Almost everyone knows that the first people to climb Mount Everest were Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, who reached the summit and returned in 1953.

However, some believe another group might have reached the summit nineteen years before they did.

It is a debate which had raged for decades, and recently discovered evidence on the slopes of Everest hasn’t quieted the discussion.

Learn more about George Mallory and attempts to summit Mount Everest on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

George Herbert Leigh Mallory was born on June 18, 1886, in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. The son of a clergyman, he showed an adventurous spirit from boyhood, famously climbing the roof of his family’s church.

He attended Winchester College, where he developed a passion for climbing in the Welsh mountains, and later went to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read history and came under the influence of notable intellectuals, including the writer Lytton Strachey.

At Cambridge, he deepened his relationship with mountaineering, climbing regularly in the Alps under the mentorship of accomplished alpinist R.L.G. Irving. He became an elegant and gifted climber known for his fluid, almost instinctive technique.

After Cambridge, he trained as a schoolmaster and took a teaching post at Charterhouse School, where he taught from 1910 onward, beloved by his students for his enthusiasm and unconventional style.

In 1914, Mallory married Ruth Turner, the daughter of a prosperous architect. Their marriage was devoted and deeply affectionate, producing three children: Clare, Beridge, and John. Ruth became the emotional anchor of his life, and his letters to her from the Himalayas are considered among the most moving documents of mountaineering history.

The outbreak of World War I interrupted his climbing career; he served as a lieutenant with the Royal Garrison Artillery on the Western Front, surviving the conflict when many of his contemporaries did not.

By the early 1920s, Mallory had built a formidable reputation in Alpine climbing, having made numerous difficult ascents in the Alps and elsewhere.

When the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club began organizing the first British expeditions to Mount Everest, newly identified as the world’s highest peak and a supreme object of national ambition, Mallory was a natural choice.

In 1921, an expedition to Everest was organized by the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club and led by Colonel Charles Howard-Bury.

This was not a summit attempt. It was reconnaissance. Its job was to answer a basic question: Is there a viable route to the top?

At the time, Nepal was closed to foreigners. That meant any attempt had to approach from Tibet, across the mountain’s northern side. The key climbing figures included George Mallory, Guy Bullock, and Edward Oliver Wheeler.

Before 1921, Everest had never been closely examined by climbers. Even its surrounding geography was poorly understood. Maps were incomplete. The glaciers and ridges were largely unknown. This expedition was essentially high-altitude exploration combined with serious cartography.

The British were motivated by national prestige. Everest was the highest point on Earth, and reaching it would be a symbolic achievement in the era of imperial exploration.

The team traveled through India into Tibet and then across the high plateau to the Everest region. The logistics were immense. Hundreds of porters and pack animals were required just to move supplies. This was months of travel before climbing even began.

Once near Everest, the team explored multiple valleys and glaciers to determine how the mountain might be climbed. They examined approaches from the east and north, mapping the region in detail.

Mallory’s biggest contribution came when he helped identify a workable line via the Rongbuk Glacier to the North Col, a high saddle between Everest and Mount Changtse. From there, the climbers could access the North Ridge and then the Northeast Ridge toward the summit.

This discovery essentially established the route that would be used in 1922 and 1924, and again by the Chinese in 1960.

Mallory and Bullock reached roughly 23,000 feet, an extraordinary height for what was officially a reconnaissance mission. But they were forced back by weather, exhaustion, and the limits of their equipment.

Unlike later expeditions, oxygen was not used in 1921. Clothing was wool, silk, and gabardine. Boots were primitive by modern standards. Weather forecasting was nonexistent. Above 20,000 feet, they were operating in largely uncharted territory with minimal understanding of how altitude truly affected the body.

With the knowledge gained in 1921, 1922 was going to be the first real attempt at the summit.

It was led by Brigadier General Charles Bruce and included key climbers such as George Mallory, Edward Norton, Howard Somervell, and George Finch. The team returned to the northern approach in Tibet, using the North Col route discovered the previous year.

The plan was straightforward in concept but brutally hard to execute. Establish a series of progressively higher camps on the Rongbuk Glacier, climb to the North Col, and then push up the North Ridge and Northeast Ridge to the summit.

This expedition also marked a major innovation: the use of supplemental oxygen. At the time, oxygen was controversial. Many climbers saw it as unsporting or even dangerous. Finch strongly advocated for it and would become its most successful early user.

The team successfully reached the North Col mountain pass and established high camps above 7,000 meters. This alone was a major achievement.

On May 21, Mallory, Norton, and Somervell made the first summit attempt without oxygen. They reached approximately 8,230 meters, about 27,000 feet, higher than any human had ever climbed at that point. They were forced to turn back due to exhaustion and worsening conditions.

A second attempt followed on May 27, this time using oxygen. George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce made a remarkable ascent, reaching around 8,320 meters. Finch’s performance with oxygen was particularly impressive and helped validate its effectiveness. They turned back due to equipment problems and fatigue.

For the first time in history, humans had climbed above 8,000 meters. The so-called death zone had been entered and survived.

On June 7, Mallory led another team toward the North Col. While ascending a steep snow slope below the col, an avalanche swept down the face. Mallory survived, but seven Sherpa porters were killed.

This was the first recorded climbing fatalities on Everest.

The avalanche ended the expedition. Morale collapsed, and continuing would have been irresponsible. The team withdrew.

If 1921 proved Everest was climbable in theory, 1922 proved it was climbable in practice, at least up to extreme altitude. It transformed Everest from a geographic puzzle into a solvable but deadly challenge.

The only thing that was left was actually reaching the summit.

In preparation for their next expedition, Mallory went on a tour of the United States to raise money. During the tour, he was constantly asked why he wanted to climb Everest. To Mallory, it seemed like an obvious question, so he developed a stock answer that seemed flippant, but was actually true.

He would reply, “because its there.”

The 1924 expedition would become one of the most famous in the history of Everest and mountaineering, not because it succeeded, but because of what happened high on the Northeast Ridge on June 8.

Led by General Charles Bruce, though operational leadership later shifted to Edward Norton due to Bruce’s illness, the expedition returned to the now-established northern approach in Tibet.

By 1924, the route through the Rongbuk Glacier and up to the North Col was well understood. The question was no longer how to approach Everest. It was whether the summit could finally be reached.

The team methodically established camps up to the North Col and beyond. Conditions were harsh, but the climbers were more experienced than in previous years.

On June 4, Edward Norton and Howard Somervell launched a summit attempt without supplemental oxygen. Norton climbed to approximately 8,573 meters, the highest altitude any human had ever reached.

He was only about 275 meters or 900 feet from the summit.

His ascent along the Great Couloir line remains one of the most extraordinary high-altitude efforts in mountaineering history. He was forced to turn back due to exhaustion and snow blindness.

Norton’s climb demonstrated that the summit was physically within reach. It also left open the possibility that oxygen might make the final difference.

After Norton’s attempt, George Mallory decided on one final push. He chose Andrew “Sandy” Irvine as his partner. Irvine was young and less experienced as a climber, but he was mechanically skilled and had worked extensively on improving the expedition’s oxygen apparatus.

On June 8, 1924, Mallory and Irvine left their high camp around 8,170 meters with oxygen sets. At approximately 12:50 p.m., geologist Noel Odell, climbing below them, reported seeing two figures high on the ridge “going strong” during a brief clearing in the clouds.

Odell believed they were approaching or ascending one of the major rock steps on the Northeast Ridge, possibly the Second Step, though his exact identification has been debated ever since.

That sighting was the last confirmed observation of Mallory and Irvine alive.

No definitive proof has ever emerged that Mallory and Irvine stood on the summit. Since then, people have debated whether Mallory and Irvine reached the top.

The controversy persists because the evidence can be argued in multiple directions, and because their last confirmed position was tantalizingly close to the top.

Several factors drive the debate.

The first is terrain. The Northeast Ridge includes major rock barriers known as the First, Second, and Third Steps. The Second Step in particular is a serious obstacle even for strong climbers, and today it is aided by a ladder installed decades later.

Whether Mallory and Irvine could have climbed it quickly enough, late in the day, wearing 1920s clothing and using 1920s equipment, is one of the core technical questions.

Second is timing and oxygen. Odell’s 12:50 p.m. sighting, plus the long distance remaining to the summit and back, implies a very tight schedule for a successful ascent and descent, especially given the limits of early oxygen systems and the brutal pace of movement above 8,000 meters.

For decades, only scattered clues surfaced, including equipment finds on the north side. In 1999, a dedicated search team led by Eric Simonson, with climbers including Conrad Anker, located Mallory’s body on the North Face at about 8,155 meters or around 26,760 feet.

The body’s condition revealed important details. Mallory had sustained a severe lower leg fracture, consistent with a serious fall. There was also a wound above his eye, suggesting head trauma.

A rope around his waist was frayed and broken, indicating he had been roped to Irvine when one or both fell. The body’s position, with hands clawed into the slope as if trying to arrest a fall, suggested he had been alive and struggling briefly after the initial impact.

Mallory was buried on the mountain near where he was found.

The team recovered several items, including an altimeter, a pocketknife, and letters, but, most importantly, not his camera.

His missing camera would have ended the debate. Mallory had a Vest Pocket Kodak camera with him. The camera was not found with Mallory, and Irvine’s body was not located in 1999, leaving the hope for conclusive evidence unresolved.

Mallory’s legacy has two parts.

One is historical and technical. He helped pioneer the north side route, proved that humans could operate at astonishing altitudes with the clothing and logistics of the early 20th century, and became a reference point for how quickly Himalayan climbing evolved in technique, oxygen use, and risk management.

The other is cultural. Mallory became an emblem of exploration’s blend of ambition, romance, and tragedy. His disappearance turned Everest into a modern mythic location long before mass tourism and commercial guiding.

His “Because it’s there” line became a shorthand for the human urge to test limits, and his story continues to generate books, films, and expeditions aimed at understanding what happened on the slopes of Mount Everest over 100 years ago.